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COMMITTEE ON ORGANIZATION, 



PRESENTED TO THE TRUSTEES OF THE 



CORNELL UNIVERSITY. 



OCTOBER 21st, 1866. 



« -^ffi^M^* 



ts ALBANY: 

C. VAN BENTHUifSEN & SONS, PRINTERS. 

1867. 



.y|* 






REPOKT 



In establishing a college on the ordinary basis, and with the 
ordinary scope, there are few difficulties which earnest men and 
moderate means will not readily surmount. The course required 
is simple and single; the equipment is compact; instructors are 
readily found for every department; precedents at every point are 
abundant. 

But the work committed to the Trustees of the Cornell Univer- 
sity is far larger, far more complicated. In most cases it has few 
available precedents, in many it has none. The committee upon 
organization, therefore, cannot hope to present a plan which shall 
cover every point likely to arise in carrying on the institution 
now to be commenced; but they hope to present a plan which 
shall aid in setting the University in operation, and to suggest 
idc s which will aid it in developing healthfully and largely. 

Theory of the Plan of Organization. 

The theory on which the committee have based their plan is 
that throughout the national and State legislation preparatory to 
the establishment of the institution, and also throughout the ideas 
of the founder of the Cornell University, as explained to us by 
himself, are two leading convictions as to the educational needs 
of the country, and two corresponding ideas as to meeting these 
needs. 

Each of these convictions, and its corresponding idea, is sepa- 
rate and distinct, yet each is necessary to the other. 

The first of these convictions is that there exists a necessity 
never yet fully met, for thorough education in various special 
departments, and, among them, the science and practice of Agri- 
culture> Industrial Mechanics, and kindred departments of thought 
and action. The corresponding practical idea is that institutions 
be founded where such instruction can be conducted with every 
appliance necessary in discovering truth and in diffusing truth; 
that such instruction be not subordinated to any other; that the 
agricultural and industrial professions be regarded as the peers of 
evety other; that access to these departments be opened as widely 
as possible, and progress in them be pushed as far as possible. 



The second of these convictions is that the system of collegiate 
instruction now dominant leaves unsatisfied the wants of a very 
laro*e number, and perhaps the majority of those who desire an 
advanced general education; that although there are great num- 
bers of noble men doing noble work in the existing system, it has 
devoted its strength and machinery mainly to & single combination 
of studies, into which comparatively few enter heartily; that where 
more latitude in study has been provided for, all courses outside 
the single traditional course have been considered to imply a 
lower caste in those taking them; that the higher general educa- 
tion has therefore lost its hold upon the majority of the trusted 
leaders of society, that it has therefore become under-estimated 
and distrusted by a majority of the people at large, and that there- 
fore it is neglected by a majority of our young men of energy 
and abilitv. 

The corresponding practical idea is that colleges of wider scope 
be founded; that no single course be insisted upon for all alike; 
that various combinations of studies be provided to meet various 
minds and different plans; thus presenting a general course to 
meet that general want which existing colleges fail to satisfy. 

Fundamental Plan of Instruction. 

The labor imposed upon us then is two-fold. 

First, we are to make provision for special courses — special 
instruction in the departments of agriculture, mechanic arts, &c. 

Secondly, we are to provide a general course — a general course 
in which such instruction and culture be afforded as shall be de- 
manded by the young men who come to group themselves in the 
different special courses. 

Even if it should be claimed that the whole effort of the trus- 
tees ousrht to be devoted to agriculture and the mechanic arts 
alone; even if we were to construe away the plain words of the 
original act of Congress, which speaks of "other scientific and 
classical branches " as part of the object of the government grant 
of lands, still the oft-repeated declaration of our founder that he 
" wishes to make such provision that every person can find oppor- 
tunity here to pursue any study he desires," would be our suffi- 
cient warrant in using at least his munificent gift in supplementing 
the special instruction with general instruction, and rounding it 
out into the proportions of an university. 

Again, even were we to found merely technical schools, giving 



instruction merely in special departments, the committee believe 
that we should be very soon obliged to supplement these special 
courses with a general course. Common sense, as Avell as general 
experience teaches that there must be some variation in mental 
labor. With rare exceptions, any man who pursues one science 
or art alone, devoting his mind entirely to that, though he may at 
first progress rapidly, soon shows that such progress is not normal. 
It is very firmly believed that the great majority of men who 
wish to attain a high place in any science or art, can rise higher, 
even in that, by enlarging the mind by some parallel studies, 
than by narrowirg the mind constantly to their single pursuit. 
Such contracted study gives facility and accuracy, but it is too 
often fatal to the qualities which ensure eminence. 

Your committee are therefore of the opinion that there should 
be two great divisions of the university. 

The first division should comprise the separate departments 
devoted each to a special science and art. The second division 
should comprise the department of Science, Literature and the 
Arts in general. 

In accordance with this division is presented the following plan: 

Organization of Instruction. 

I. Division of Special Sciences and Arts. 

1. Department of Agriculture. 

2. Department of Mechanic Arts. 

3. Department of Civil Engineering. 

4. Department of Commerce and Trade. 

5. Department of Mining. 

6. Department of Medicine and Surgery. 

7. Department of Law. 

8. Department of Jurisprudence, Political Science and History. 

9. Department of Education. 

II. Division of Science, Literature and the Arts in General. 

1. 1st General Course. 

2. 2d General Course. 

3. 3d General Course. 

4. Scientific Course. 

5. Optional Course. 

The character of each of the departments named in the first 
division is in the main, sufficiently explained by its title. Details 



6 • • 

of courses of instruction in each cannot well be arranged until the 
trustees shall have consulted with the faculty, and it is recom- 
mended that at periods previous to the commencement of active 
instruction, the Academic Senate be requested to convene for the 
purpose of discussing this subject and presenting plans. 

But there is one department, regarding which, perhaps, some 
explanation is needed here : the department ^ of Jurisprudence— 
Political and Social Science, and History. 

We believe that although there will be some attention to these 
subjects in the general course, there is need of a separate depart- 
ment devoted to a study of them, wider and deeper. We 
believe too, that such a department should be established so soon 
as we approximate a full corps of professors. 

In various connections with institutions of learning, and in 
various public employments, the committee have been convinced: 

First — That great numbers of the must active young men long 
for such a department, would work vigorously in it, and would 
secure good discipline by it, and that these young men are many 
of them not attracted to the existing colleges. 

Secondly. — We believe that the State and nation are constantly 
injured by their chosen servants, who lack the simplest rudiments 
of knowledge which such a department could supply. No one 
can stand in any legislative position and not be struck with the 
frequent want in men otherwise strong and keen, of the simplest 
knowledge of principles essential to public welfare. Of technical 
knowledge of law, and of practical acquaintance with business, 
the supply is always plentiful, but it is very common that in 
deciding great public questions, exploded errors in political and 
social science are revamped, fundamental principles of law disre- 
garded, and the plainest teachings of history ignored. 

In any republic, and especially in this, the most frequent ambi- 
tion among young men will be to rise to positions in the public 
service, and the committee think it well at least to attempt to 
provide a department in view of the wants of these ; a depart- 
ment where there should be something more than a mere glance 
over one or two superseded text books, — where there should be 
large and hearty study and comparison of the views and methods 
of Guizot, and Mill, and Lieber, and Woolscy, and Bastiat, and 
Carey, and Mayne, and others. 

There are among you, gentlemen of the board of trustees, 
representatives of cvciy walk in life, of every important profes- 



sioiij of every party. There are among you, representatives of 
the highest state and national 'employments, and we appeal to you 
for corroboration of the statement, that whatever may be the 
opinion of cloistered men, the opinion of men active in the world 
at large, is decided, that there is a great branch of instruction 
here, for which the existing colleges make no adequate provision. 

It may be said that the function of colleges is to give discipline, 
that knowledge is subordinate. We answer that they should give 
both, 'and that as a rule, the attempt to give, mental discipline by 
studies which the mind does not desire, is as unwise as to attempt 
to give physical nourishment by food which the body does not desii\e. 
Discipline comes not by studies which are " droned over." 

Again, we believe that the knowledge given, is far more 
important than many would have us think. The main stock in 
political' economy and history of most of our educated public men, 
is what they learned before they studied for their professions. 
Many an absurdity uncorrected at college has been wrought into 
the constitutions and statutes of our great commonwealths, and 
when we consider that constitution making for new states and old, 
is to be the great work in this country, of this and succeeding 
generations, surely, we do well to attempt more thorough instruc- 
tion of those on whom the work is likely to fail. 

One* other department, needs, perhaps a few words of explan- 
ation — that of Commerce and Trade. Throughout the country 
have sprung up schoolsv known as " commercial colleges." The 
number of persons attending them is such as to show that they 
meet a, want widely felt, and the idea has suggested itself that at 
some future day it might be well to try the experiment of a 
department under the above name, in which a more thorough and 
large instruction could be given, than in those at present so 
numerous. Anything which will bring some university culture 
to bear upon those preparing to lead in commerce and trade, will 
be a benefit to the country. How far it can be done your com- 
mittee will not venture to say. At least one great European uni- 
versity has kept up a course of this sort for many years. 

In the second division, it is necessary to give a more detailed 
explanation of courses, and ideas upon which the courses are 
based. 

The " First General Course " comprises a combination of studies 
mainly like the classical course at the existing colleges. 

The " Second General Course, 7 ' comprises a combination of 



8 

studies like the first, with the substitution of the German liin<ru«*i£rc 
for the Greek. Giving, as such a course would, the two great 
elements of our language, the Romanic and the Teutonic, it is 
believed that it would be received with great favor by many of 
the best minds dissatisfied with the existing college courses. 

The "Third General Course," comprises the same studies as the 
previous courses, except that the two languages studied are French 
and German. 

The " Scientific Course" is combined in view of the wants of 
those who intend devoting themselves wholly or mainly to the 
natural sciences. 

The " Optional Course" is one in which the student is required 
to choose three subjects of study from all those pursued in the 
University, and to pass examination therein. This it is believed, 
will add greatly to the efficiency of the institution. It is a course 
permitted in some of the great universities of continental Europe, 
and with excellent results. It has been tried thoroughly at the 
State University of Michigan, and to nothing in its organization 
is that institution more indebted for its acknowledged efficiency. 

It is not recommended that all these departments be established 
at once. The Cornell University must have a development — a 
growth, though it is believed that its growth may be very rapid. 
But your committee do not hesitate to declare their belief that 
neither of these departments will attain full efficiency until all are 
established. They believe that each additional department and 
additional course will strengthen every other, by attracting more 
and more earnest minds among teachers and taught; by stimula- 
ting emulation among professors and students: by throwing light 
upon each science and art from every other; by presenting every 
element of the best culture. 

The committee, however, recommend the immediate establish- 
ment only of so much of the first division as is embraced in the 
departments of Agriculture, the Mechanic Arts, Civil Engineer- 
ing and Mining. 

They recommend the immediate establishment of so many 
courses in the second division as shall be found necessary to meet 
the wants of the students presenting themselves at the beginning 
of the first term. 

In the second division it seems advisable to present some ideas 
which have influenced them in determining the courses into which 
the division is separated. 



9 

University Liberty in Choice of Studies. 

The first question which arises in arranging general plans of 
instruction is as to the amount of liberty to he allowed the student 
in selecting his course. 

On one hand are they who declare that students at the usual ago 
of entering college are unfit to select a course, and that it must he 
chosen for them. Of those taking this view are some men held 
in deserved honor throughout the country. 

On the other hand are they who declare that the usual imposi- 
tion of a single, fixed course is fatal to any true university spirit in 
this country; that it cramps colleges and men; that it has much 
to do with that strange anomaly under the existing system — 
scholars stepping out of the highest scholastic positions in college 
classes into nonentity in active life; that it has been the main agent 
in bringing about that relaxation of the hold which colleges once 
had upon the nation, which all thoughtful men deplore. 

The committee see much truth in the latter view. They think 
that the first view contains a fallacy in the virtual assumption that 
because a young student is not a pei feet judge regarding his com- 
plete wants, therefore he is no judge at all, and shall have others 
to choose for him; and but one course opened to their choice. 

We hold, indeed, that most students need advice as to details 
of study, and that probably none could construct the best possible 
course of study; but we also hold that an overwhelming majority 
of students are competent to choose between different courses of 
study, carefully balanced and arranged by men who have brought 
thought and experience to the work. By the aid of older friends, 
and the faculty of the university, a young man ought to be able to 
make a choice based upon his previous education and means of 
future education — upon his tastes, position and ambition. Cer- 
tainly the results could not be more wretched under such a sys- 
tem than under the existing system, even by the confession of its 
most earnest advocates. 

The committee have carried out these views by naming different 
courses, so that while the student may have the benefit of the ex- 
perience of men older than himself, he may have some liberty of 
choice; and they have added one course, giving to more mature 
students complete freedom of choice. 



10 

Leading Disciplinary Studies in a General Course. 

The next question which arises regarding a general course, is as 
to the classes of studies to be relied upon for mental discipline, 
fundamental knowledge and general culture. 

A large party unhesitatingly declare for the Greek and Latin 
classics. They believe that nothing else gives so valuable a disci- 
pline or so perfect a culture. 

' The committee declare here their belief in the great value of 
classical studies. They do not hesitate to advise those who have 
time and taste for them to study them — the Greek for its wonder- 
ful perfection — the Latin for its great practical value as a key to 
modern languages and to the nomenclature of modern sciences — 
and both Greek and Latin for their value in the cultivation of 
judgment. But while it is believed that these studies ought to 
hold an honored place, the committee are strongly opposed to the 
attempt to fetter all students to them, if for no other reason be- 
cause this would be to defeat the plain intentions of those who 
framed the act of Congress to which the establishment of the uni- 
versity is due. 

In the courses provided, the modern languages most in use, and 
the sciences which in theory and practice have in latter years 
attained such great importance, must be recognized at their full 
value in imparting instruction, and in securing mental discipline. 

The committee cannot forbear noticing here a fallacy regarding 
mental discipline which they will endeavor to avoid in presenting 
courses of study. 

That fallacy consists in the idea that the only mental discipline 
is that which promotes a certain keenness and precision of mind. 
We believe that there is another kind of mental discipline quite 
as valuable — discipline for breadth of mind. For the former, such 
studies as mathematics and philology are urged; for the latter, 
such studies as history and literature. To say that the latter are 
not disciplinary is to ignore, perhaps, the most important part of 
mental discipline. In American life there will always be enough 
keenness and sharpness of mind. But the danger is that there will 
be neglect of those noble studies which enlarge the mental horizon 
and increase mental powers in reaching out toward it — studies 
which give material for thought and suggestions for thought upon 
the great field of the history of civilization. 

Happily no studies are more enjoyed by the best American stu- 
dents than those which give this mental breadth — historical and 



11 

political studies. This being the case, there need be no fears as 
to their value in mental discipline, for discipline comes by studies 
which are loved, not by studies which are loathed. There is no 
discipline to be obtained in droning over studies. Vigorous, 
energetic study, prompted by enthusiasm or a high sense of the 
value of the subject, is the only kind of study not positively hurt- 
ful to mental power. Hence the great evil of insisting on the 
same curriculum for all students, regardless of their tastes or plans. 

Combination and Separation of Professorships. 

In making provision for these different departments it will be 
seen that they interpenetrate each other, one professorship 
frequently extending through two or three departments. 

So frequently is this the case, that it will be seen to be impos- 
sible to provide professors fully for any one department without 
at the same time, making almost sufficient provision for the others. 

Of the professorships to be filled at an early day, we would 
present the following schedule : — 

I. Dejxirtment of Agriculture. 

1st. Professor of the Theory and Practice of Agriculture. 

2d. Professor of Agricultural Chemistry. 

3d. Professor of General and Analytical Chemistry. 

4th. Professor of Geology and Mineralogy. 

5th. Professor of Zoology and comparative anatomy. 

6th. Professor of Botany. 

7th. Professor of Civil Enoineerino^. 

8th. Professor of Veterinary Surgery and Breeding of Animals. 

9th„ Physiology, Hygiene, and Physical Culture. 

II. Department of Mechanics. 

1st. Professor of Physics and Industrial Mechanics. 

2d. Professor of Civil Eiiffineermff. 

3d. Professor of Architecture. 

4th. Professor of General and Analytical Chemistry. 

5th. Professor of Geology and Mineralogy. 

6th. Professor of Mathematics. 

III. Department of Civil Engineering. 
1st. Professor of Civil En<nneerin<r. 
2d. Professor of Architecture. 



12 

3d. Professor of Physics and Industrial Mechanics. 
4^h. Professor of Geology and Mineralogy. 
5lh. Professor of Mathematics. 

IV. Department of Mining. 
1st. Professor of Mining and Metallurgy. 
2d. Professor of Civil Engineering. 
3d. Professor of Geology and Mineralogy. 
4th. Professor of General and Analytical Chemistry. 

V. Department of Science, Literature, and the Arts. 

1st. Professor of Moral and Mental Philosophy. 

2d. Professor of History. 

3d. Professor of Political Economy. 

4th. Professor of Municipal Law. 

5th. Professor of Constitutional Law. 

6 th. Professor of Ancient Languages. 

7th. Professor of French and South European Languages. 

8th. Professor of German and North European Languages. 

9th. Professor of English Language and Literature. 

10th. Professor of Rhetoric, Oratory and Vocal Culture. 

11th. Professor of Mathematics. 

12 th. Professor of Astronomy. 

13th. Professor of Physics and Industrial Mechanics. 

14th. Professor of Geology and Mineralogy. 

15th. Professor of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy. 

16th. Professor of Botany. 

17th. Professor of Physiology, Hygiene and Physical Culture. 

18th. Professor of Chemistry, General and Analytical. 

19th. Professor of ^Esthetics, and the History of the Fine Arts. 

20th. Professor of Architecture. 

21st. Professor of Military Tactics. 

22d. Professor of Physical Geography and Meteorology. 

The entire university, therefore, would comprise the following 
professorships : — 

1. Theory and Practice of Agriculture. 

2. Agricultural Chemistry. 

3. Veterinary Surgery and the Breeding of Animals. 

4. General and Analytical Chemistry. 

5. Botany. 



13 

6. Zoology and Comparative Anatomy. 

7. Geolosry and Mineralogy. 

8. Physics and Industrial MecLanies. 

9. Mathematics. 

10. Astronomy. 

11. Civil Engineering. 

12. Physiology, Hygiene and Physical Culture. 

13. Moral and Physical Culture. 

14. History. 

15. Political Economy 

16. Municipal Law. 

17. Constitutional Law. 

18. Ehetoric, Oratory and Vocal Culture. 

19. English Language and Literature. 

20. French, and South European Languages. 

21. German, and North European Languages. 

22. Ancient Languages.* 

23. ^Esthetics, and History of the Fine Arts. 

24. Architecture. 

25. Military Tactics and Engineering. 

26. Physical Geography and Meteorology. 

It will be seen, therefore, that there are twenty-six professor- 
ships needed at an early day. But it is not thought that it will 
be necessary to have so many separate professorships at once, nor 
to place all upon the same basis. Some professors must, to be 
efficient, reside permanently at the seat of the university, giving 
daily recitations or lectures, and conducting daily experiments. 

Some will be perfectly efficient by a temporary residence, 
during which recitations are heard, or lectures given. Hence 
occurs at once, another division of a kind very different from any 
we have previously made — the division into resident and non- 
resident professors. 

Having in view this division, the committee present the foilow- 
Inor schedule: — 



» 



Resident Professors. 

1. Theory and Practice of Agriculture 

2. Agricultural Chemistry. 

3. General and Analytical Chemistry. 

4. Botany. 



*To be separated into ^vo or more professorships when circumstances shall demand it. 



14 

5. Zoology and Comparative Anatomy. 

6. Geology and Mineralogy. 

7. Physics and Industrial Mechanics. 

8. Mathematics. 

9. Astronomy. 

10. Civil Engineering. 

11. Moral and Mental Philosophy. 

12. History. 

13. Rhetoric, Oratory and Vocal Culture. 

14. French, and South European Languages. 

15. German, and North European Languages. 

16. Ancient Languages. 

JVbn- Resident Professors. 

1. Veterinary Surgery and the Breeding of Animals. 

2. Physiology, Hygiene and Physical Culture. 

3. Political Economy. 

4. Municipal Law. 

5. Constitutional Law. 

6. English Language and Literature. 

7. ^Esthetics and the History of the Fine Arts. 

8. Architecture. 

9. Military Tactics and Engineering. 

. 10. Physical Geography and Meteorology. 

Temporary Modifications of the Plan. 
The question now arises, how much of this plan can be made 
practical during the first year — how many of these professors 
can Ave employ to advantage while the university is beginning its 

operations? 

Two plans suggest themselves. The first is to fill all these 

chairs immediately, to make a beginning which shall give us a 

reputation at once, to strike public attention on the first day of 

the first term, by a large programme fully carried out. 

The second plan is to hold during the first year, some professor- 
ships in abeyance, and of the remaining departments to combine 
temporarily, several in one, thus commencing in a manner less 
striking, feeling our way somewhat at first, finding gradually 
what are the departments most needed. 

The committee pronounce for the latter method. The policy 
of .the Cornell University has not been to make much proclamation 



15 

of great purposes. Its founder has steadily gone on, always 
performing more than his promises, and there are goodly signs 
that the university authorities have caught his spirit. Two of 
the noblest buildings for university purposes in the United States 
have been reared; but there has been no pompous laying of corner- 
stones, no loud proclamations of new discoveries in the theory 
and practice of education, no publication of programmes out of 
all proportion to revenues, and it is to be hoped that we shall not 
begin smad captandum policy now. The only question worthy of 
us is: What does the university practically need the first year? 
It is believed that the duties may be so arranged that during the 
first year eight or ten professors will be sufficient. 

Possible Modifications of the Plan in Future. 

Such is a general scheme offered as a point of departure in 
arranging professorships. The committee know well that in 
details it must often be departed from. The peculiar talents of a 
valuable member of the faculty, have much to do with the final 
shaping of the list of professorships. The demands made by stu- 
dents have also very much to do with it. A great demand upon 
the professorship of Physiology, Hygiene and Physical Culture, 
would make it necessary to change it from the non-resident to the 
resident list, and so with others. 

The number of students too, must have a very great influence 
on this matter. As numbers increase, professorships must be sub- 
divided. Thus, until the numbers are large, the professor of 
Physics can discharge the duties of professor of Industrial 
Mechanics, but afterwards the latter department would probably 
be detached. 

As numbers increase, too, some departments will require 
assistants. In some departments one system must be pursued and 
the responsibility fixed on one man; it cannot therefore be divided. 
But when numbers are greatly increased, it will probably be 
necessary to appoint an assistant professor or instructor, who 
should be subject as regards their plan of instruction, to the head 
of the department. As any department developes also, it will be 
necessary to subdivide it, and increase the number of professor- 
ships in it. Thus, for example, the department of Civil Engineer- 
ing, would be separated into three or four new departments, each 
devoted to a special part of the work, and then must be added 
instructors in geometrical and topographical drawing, &c. 



16 

Non-resident Professors for short terms, or University 

Lecturers. 

But there is a feature in the full organization which the 
committee ask the trustees to consider especially. It is one which 
several educators have in the recent years arrived at independ- 
ently of each other. It is one promising great results, but 
demanding great care. This is the establishment of a system of 
non-resident, short term professors, or university lecturers. The 
plan is as follows : Have the full equipment of full term profes- 
sors above given, let the trustees elect each year a small number 
of short-term professors or lecturers, from among the most distin- 
guished in their several departments, in this or other states; 
let no general rule as to term of service, number of lecturers or 
compensation be laid down, but let such special agreement be 
made between each person thus called and the trustees, as shall 
best secure the object desired. 

Let the professors thus selected be either persons who are 
accepted as authorities regarding matters upon which they 
discourse, or persons whose talents, acquirements and reputations 
are of the highest. Let them deliver, each, a certain number of 
lectures, representing in a form and style as nearly suited to their 
audiences as possible, what they themselves, consider the highest 
results, or a summarv of the main results of their labors. Let 
their course of lectures be fully announced in the public prints to 
the country at large. The advantage of such an addition to the 
regular means of instruction, are believed to be very great. 

First, great good would doubtless result to the Resident Faculty. 
The great difficulty with bodies of professors remote from great 
cities, and centres of thought and action is, that they lose connec- 
tion with the world at large, save through books; they become 
provincial in spirit ; they lose that enthusiasm which contact 
with other leading minds in the same pursuits would arouse ; 
thcv u breed in and in;" their whole range of thought becomes 
inevitably narrow. But, under this system now proposed, there 
would be a constant influx of light and life from the great centres 
of thought and action. The resident professors would be thrown 
into close relations at once, with the special professors thus called. 
Their views would be enlarged, their eiforts stimulated, their 
whole life quickened. 

Second///, great good would result to students in regular attend- 
ance. A great difficulty among students assembled in college is 



17 

a regularity in routine, a dullness, a listlessness, a want of enthu- 
siasm. The general result of this, as regards study, is that it is 
done mechanically; that most of the scholarly work is poor in 
quality and small in quantity. The general result as regards con- 
duct, is that too often, in a spirit of reaction against this listless- 
ness, the energies which would do great things if directed to study, 
are directed to dissipation. It is believed by your committee that 
if these special professors were men of the greatest ability and 
eminence, an enthusiasm might be aroused among the students in 
regard to various departments of knowledge, which would direct 
their energies mainly into channels of study and thought. 

The objection has indeed been made that these special courses 
might cause confusion .and dissipation in the minds of the students. 
It is believed, however, that this will be the result with compara- 
tively few students, and even with these but temporarily. It is 
believed that in the great majority of cases, the enthusiasm created 
will far outweigh in good effects any evil effects arising from the 
disturbance of the regular routine. 

Thirdly, great good would result to large portions of the pub- 
lic in general, which under ordinary circumstances would not avail 
itself of the ordinary privileges of the University. It is believed 
that such special courses of lectures by distinguished men would 
attract large numbers of citizens for brief terms, resulting in good 
to them and to society at large, by an immediate extension of the 
activity of the University among the matured minds and men 
already in active life. 

Fourthly, great good would result to the University itself. It 
would enable the University to make a division of labor, selecting 
members of the Resident Faculty, for their energy and working 
ability; selecting men who have a name to make and ability to 
make it, and not selecting men for the resident professors — for the 
hard work of the University — who have attained eminence and so 
outlived their willingness to do hard work. 

Again, it would greatly strengthen the University as to reputa- 
tion. Let there be widely published each year, in leading jour- 
nals, in addition to a meritorious Resident Faculty, a number of 
special professors or lecturers, whose ability in research, or in 
presenting the results of research, is acknowledged, and the insti- 
tution would arrive in a very short time at a height of reputation 
which other institutions have failed to achieve during long years 
of ordinary administration. 

3 



18 

Again, the system thus proposed would strengthen the Univer- 
sity by attracting great numbers of students. The same simple 
reasoning which we have used to show that this system would 
give the University efficiency and power, also shows that it would 
draw great numbers of students. 

Nor would such a result be merely gratifying to pride. There 
is an educating force of no mean value in the presence of a very 
large body of students — a means, of education through large 
acquaintance, and through wide observation of character — a stimu- 
lus to effort through emulation, which in a small group can hardly 
be attained. 

Character of Scholarship in Professors. 

The question next arises, what manner of men shall these pro- 
fessors be? 

To maintain the efficiency and reputation of the University, its 
faculty must constantly keep in view two great objects: first, the 
discovery of truth; secondly, the diffusion of truth. 

By a certain class of men deservedly in high repute, there has 
been fostered a spirit which tends not to the undue exaltation of 
the discovery of new truth in science, for that cannot be unduly 
exalted, but to the undue depreciation of the diffusion of scientific 
truth. 

Your committee believe that in the selection of a faculty, neither 
of these two great functions of every professor should be exalted 
at the expense of the other. It is not doubted that in the largest 
minds devoted to science, the power of discovering truth and the 
power of imparting it, are almost invariably found together. Men 
should be sought for the faculty who can go on discovering truth 
and imparting it. But it should not be forgotten that in an insti- 
tution of learning, facility and power in imparting truth are even 
more necessary than in discovering it. 

Where can these Professors be Found? 

Many persons of high standing have answered this question 
much as follows: " Your endowment is large: select the greatest 
men in this country and other countries. Have perhaps fewer 
professors, but range the country through and take from the lead- 
ing institutions their leading men, the men who give standing to 
science, literature and art in America. Have the best." 

Other persons thoughtfully considering this problem have ans- 



19 

wered the question in a very different way: " Your endowment is 
indeed large, but it has to cover an immense field. The most effi- 
cient men for professorships are by no means necessarily those 
most frequently paraded in newspapers. Often a hard working 
man, who has never arrived at more than a local reputation, or a 
young man who has not arrived at any reputation at all, is practi- 
cally better than men whose reputation is made, and who have out- 
lived the necessity of hard thought and work." 

There are important elements of truth in both these responses; 
but your committee would answer this question as follows: 

The division of the instructing body into the three great classes 
of resident, non-resident and special professors or lecturers, already 
recommended, suggests a solution of the problem. 

To bring the University to the highest standard in science, lite- 
rature and the arts, at once, — to get such general advantages as 
come from distinguished men and great names, — have a careful 
eye to the selection of special lecturers; secure men for courses of 
twelve or fifteen or twenty lectures, who, while they could not at 
any sum be engaged permanently, can be secured for so short a 
term by liberal compensation and the display of a promising field 
of labor. 

If it be said that such instruction will be fragmentary and super- 
ficial, we answer, that we believe such an assertion to be a great 
mistake. The greatest course of lectures ever delivered before 
an University, — the one which remodeled the science of history, 
and which is felt to-day in every historical treatise of repute, con- 
sisted of but fifteen lectures. We refer to Guizot's renowned 
lectures on civilization ; and there are multitudes of similar exam- 
ples. 

But for the steady hard work of the regular resident faculty, it 
would be vain to seek such eminent men. It would cost immense 
sums to take even a few of them out of the high places into which 
they have climbed ; to tear them from the associations of a life- 
time ; to take them from the midst of their assistants, and to put 
them again into a fresh field to begin their life-work anew. 

To take Agassiz permanently from Cambridge, we must outbid 
the Emperor of the French, who has already offered the most 
tempting prizes in vain. 

To take Dana permanently from Yale, or D wight or Lieber from 
Columbia, Guyot from Princeton, or Park from Andover, would 
require our whole income ; and it is even then doubtful whether 



20 

these men would do our work well as resident professors, building 
up a new institution. 

The opinion of the committee is, that the better course for filling 
the resident body is to find out the names and characteristics of 
of the most promising young men, who, under these distinguished 
professors, have already commenced a career. Select those who 
have a name to make, and who can make it. We can thus secure 
enthusiasm, energy, ambition, willingness to work, and without 
paying enormous salaries. 

We do not, indeed, advise making up the faculty entirely of 
such young men. It would be judicious to select from the most 
successful instructors in the existing schools and colleges, men of 
more experience to give the faculty steadiness ; but as a rule, the 
committee believe that for a time, at least, the University must 
rely upon young men for the hard work in building up this great 
benefaction to the State and Nation. 

General Culture of Professors. 

But while the first thing to be sought in professors is ability to 
discover truth and to impart it, there is another requirement of 
hardly less importance — general good culture and manliness. 

If, to secure some great genius in any special department, we 
have to bear with some lack of general culture, we ought perhaps 
to sacrifice the lower qualifications for the higher ; but nothing 
short of such extreme necessity should lead us to place men of a 
low grade, as to general culture, among young men whose habits 
of thinking aud living are just receiving the form and impress 
which they are to bear during life. 

This University must not only make scholars : it has a higher 
duty ; it must make men — men manly, earnest, and of good gen- 
eral culture. We must not make the mistake so common in older 
colleges — in selecting to govern and guide bright, high-spirited 
young men, tutors who do not and cannot know anything of the 
world and of what the world is thinking, — instructors who lead 
students to associate learning with boorishness or clownishness. 
We must make no man an instructor simply because he is poor or 
pious or a "squatter" on the college domain. We must have 
men who are what we would have our sons be, and we must have 
them at any cost. 

And here the committee desire to say, that for instruction in 
modern languages, as a rule, our best course is to secure Ameri- 



21 

cans. The slight advantage in correct accent possessed by an 
instructor from a foreign country is almost always too dearly pur- 
chased by sacrifice of the qualities which ensure success in lectures 
or recitations. This suggestion is not made, of course, in any 
narrow spirit of dislike for men of foreign birth, but under the 
certainty that teaching American young men by foreigners has 
almost universally proved a failure, both as to instruction and 
discipline. 

Methods of bringing the Genekal Culture of Professors to 

bear upon the students. 

One of the saddest deficiencies in existing colleges is want of 
free intercourse, and even of acquaintance, between professors and 
students. In most of the larger colleges the great mass of stu- 
dents know really nothing of either President or Professors. They 
are generally strangers, or worse than strangers. They have met 
in lecture rooms or recitation rooms, but they have met as natural 
enemies. Their only conversation outside the lecture room has 
been when the student made excuses, or the professor gave re- 
proofs ; and in these the student is normally a culprit, and the 
professor a detective. 

It seems all the more strange that such want of intercourse 
should exist under a system which deifies classic culture, when the 
Athenian ideal of that culture was obtained by frank, full, genial 
conversation between teacher and taught. 

It seems all the more sad, when every reflecting man knows 
that hearty, manly sympathy in studies and pursuits established 
between a young man and a man of thought, learning, character 
and experience, is worth more than all educational programmes 
and machinery. 

In excuse for this it is asserted that the number of students in 
college classes is generally so large that professors cannot know 
them. It is believed by your committee, that this difficulty is 
by no means insuperable. It has from time to time been over- 
come at various large colleges, and it is worth our trouble to try 
some experiments at least in bringing students within range of 
the general culture of professors, and keeping them within it. 

It is therefore recommended that the duty of acquaintance and 
social intercourse with students be impressed upon the faculty, 
and that additions be made to professors' salaries expressly as an 
indemnity or provision for such social privileges to students. The 



22 

same principle which has led wise governments to make extra 
allowances to ambassadors, for the express purpose of keeping up 
genial social relations with the people among whom they are sent, 
is the basis of the experiment now suggested. The experiment 
can be tried, either by moderate additions to salary or deductions 
from rents of University houses. 

It is also suggested that some provision be made for weekly or 
fortnightly reunions of faculty and students ; that at an early day 
pleasant rooms be allotted for that purpose, and that some small 
expenditure be made to render such gatherings attractive and pro- 
fitable. Even if some little time is taken from the ordinary rou- 
tine, the experiment is well worth trying. 

Eelations of Professors to Each Other. 

The committee desire to impress here an idea which they con- 
ceive most essential to the success of the University ; simply this : 
The University will tolerate no feuds in the faculty. 

It may seem strange that this should be alluded to ; but in view 
of the fact that more than one American college has been ruined 
by such feuds, and that very many have been crippled ; in view 
of the cognate fact that the odium theologicum seems now outdone 
by hates between scientific cliques and dogmas ; that as a rule it 
is now impossible to secure an impartial opinion from one scien- 
tific man regarding another ; and that these gentlemen, in their 
jealousies and bickerings, are evidently only awaiting some one 
with a spark of the Moliere genius to cover them before the country 
Avith ridicule and contempt, we do not think that the Board is 
likely to give too much importance to this. 

We advise that in the common law of the University it be a 
fundamental principle, that harmony and hearty co-operation in 
the work here are far more essential than any one or any half- 
dozen professors, and that in case feuds and quarrels arise, every 
professor concerned be at once requested to resign, unless the dis- 
turbing person can be identified beyond a reasonable doubt ; that 
if ever a general want of harmony be observed, and a rapid adjust- 
ment is impossible, the Gordian knot be cut, and that all con- 
cerned be replaced by others who can work together. Better to 
have science taught less brilliantly, than to have it rendered con- 
temptible. 



23 

HOW SHALL PROFESSORS BE FOUND ? 

Various methods of securing the best men have been resorted 
to, in the institutions already established. 

One method is, to give notice quietly that a position is vacant ; 
to receive testimonials regarding candidates, consisting of their 
own statements and the written recommendations of their friends ; 
and to select the person whose recommendations are the most 
numerous or laudatory. 

We believe such a method wretchedly delusive. A sad sort of 
common law obtains in our country, by which a candidate for any 
place has a right to demand that his townsman, neighbor or friend 
shall put his name to any statement necessary to secure an elec- 
tion. No man of recent experience can doubt that an immense 
array of petitions could be obtained for the rebuilding of the 
Tower of Babel, and that an immense array of testimonials could 
be obtained, attesting the fitness of the most knavish contractor 
to build it. 

Considering this facility with which recommendations are ob- 
tained, they ought never to be considered final, though they ought 
always to be demanded. 

It should also be laid down at the outset, as a fundamental law, 
that no testimonials are to have any weight, no matter how great 
the abilities of the giver, except as they are statements upon im- 
portant qualifications from persons who are unquestionable autho- 
thorities upon these particular qualifications. It ought to be fully 
understood that the vague testimony of the foremost lawyer in 
the State, as to attainments in organic chemistry or microscopic 
anatomy, or other branches of science in which the legal gentle- 
man is not an expert, pass with this Board as so much blank paper. 

Another method sometimes resorted to in Great Britain is, to 
advertise for candidates — stating duties, salary, with testimonials 
or tests. This has some advantages ; but after correspondence 
regarding this plan, with some leading men who have thought and 
wrought much for higher education, we do not recommend it. 

The only safe method would seem that, by committee or other- 
wise, we make investigations for ourselves ; to obtain confidential 
statements as to the abilities of candidates — statements sub sigillo 
confessionis from those who desire our success and the promotion 
of the most worthy, and who can give us real information and not 
conventional praise. 

It has happened that the papers of candidates have been thus 



24 

far referred to this committee, and so far as possible, in the 
absence of full powers, we have acted upon the plan here sug- 
gested. We recommend that some existing committee or some 
new committee be authorized to receive the testimonials of candi- 
dates ; to make the investigations required, and to report to the 
Board at a very early day. 

The Administering Body. 

Thus far the committee have occupied themselves with the 
Instructing Body. They now turn to the question of the Admin- 
istering Body. 

The immediate administering or governing body, subject to the 
trustees, is naturally, as regards discipline, details of instruction, 
&c, the Faculty. At the head of the Faculty should stand a Pre- 
sident, and in so large an institution there are reasons why it might 
be well to name a Vice-President. These, while taking part in 
the instruction, should take the lead in the administration. The 
experience of all institutions of learning puts it beyond a doubt 
that such headship is necessary. The single attempt to dispense 
with it, is one of the most wretched failures in the educational 
history of this country. 

The committee recommend that there be elected at an early 
day a President of the University. 

Method of Administration. 

The question now arises, how shall the government or adminis- 
tration by the Faculty be conducted ? 

Two methods have been in existence : 

First. The discipline of students, and, indeed, the great mass 
of ordinary business of the institution, is committed to the Presi- 
dent. The Faculty, in this plan, merely, as a rule, present reports 
and give advice, leaving the initiation of measures and the final 
decision and action upon them, to the head of the instructing body. 
This is the method practiced in many colleges of New England, 
and generally, it is believed, in those of New York. 

According to the other method, the Faculty occupy altogether 
a different position. They are not merely advisors, but legisla- 
tors. They cannot throw the responsibility upon the head of the 
institution ; they must take part in it themselves. This is the 
system adopted in a few of the American colleges, and, among 
them, in the State University of Michigan. 



25 

Your committee are decidedly in favor of the latter method. 
They believe that to the looseness of method incident to the 
former system, are due many of the difficulties which disgrace 
Faculties, and much of the bad discipline which ruins students. 

Your committee recommend, therefore, that in each department 
of the University, the Faculty belonging to that department form 
a legislative body, with sittings at regular and short intervals, 
presided over by the President, Vice-President, or a Dean elected 
for that purpose j that rules of order be observed ; that in cases 
of discipline, or conferring degrees, every resident and non-resi- 
dent professor have a vote, and that such vote be by ballot. 

The conlmittee recommend that the combined Faculty of the 
whole University also have stated meetings at regular intervals not 
greater than once a month, presided over by the President, Vice- 
President, or a President pro tempore, for the purpose of conduct- 
ing the general administration of the institution and memorializing 
the trustees ; discussing general questions of educational policy • 
presenting papers upon special subjects in literature, science and 
the arts ; — that this body be known as the Academic Senate ; that 
its proceedings be conducted according to rules of order ; that 
every person engaged in instruction, whether resident professors, 
non-resident professors, lecturers or instructors, have permission 
to speak, but that the right of voting be confined to the resident, 
non-resident professors, and to assistant professors representing 
complete departments in which no professor is appointed. 

Official Term of Professors. 

As regards the term of office of professors, the committee ask 
your attention to the following considerations : 

The usual, in fact the universal plan hitherto has been, to elect 
professors to serve indefinitely. The power of removal in such 
cases remains in the trustees ; but practically it has been found 
difficult to exercise it, even where there has been great reason for 
it. In his. work on University Education, Dr. Way land alludes 
to the great difficulty under the existing system of removing 
incompetent or superannuated professors. It has been a great 
difficulty. Hardly a college which has not suffered from retaining 
men not sufficiently capable, because it required positive action to 
remove them, which action no one wished to initiate. 

On the other hand, it is a matter of difficulty to engage good 
men for short terms of service in a Faculty. The acquirements 

4 



26 

of a professor are not like those of a lawyer or physician, which, 
if not appreciated in one town, can be exercised in the next. His 
fields of labor are comparatively few, and he naturally hesitates 
greatly to commit himself to the chance of being cast out in a few 
years. He will be very likely, under such circumstances, to prefer 
a place of less honor and more permanence. To overcome this 
feeling, salaries would have to be much larger than under the 
usual system. 

Again : It is not improbable that such reelections might lead to 
cabals and intrigue, thus distracting the institution, defiling it, 
and thwarting the purposes of this provision. 

The advantages of engaging professors for short terms are appa- 
rent. Incompetent men would easily drop out at the end of six 
years, if not before. Such a system, too, would probably inspire 
every member of the Faculty to constant exertion. It is a ques- 
tion, however, whether his exertion would be mainly directed to 
retaining his professorship by energy in instruction, or energy in 
intrigue. 

Your committee are not prepared to make any recommendation 
regarding the term of service of the Faculty, leaving it entirely 
to the future discussions of the Board. 

Salaries of Professors. 

Another question arises, of much immediate importance, regard- 
ing the salaries of the Faculty. 

Professors' salaries in the United States vary greatly. The sala- 
ries at Columbia College are generally about four to five thousand 
dollars per annum ; at Brown University, Providence, they are 
fixed at about twenty-five hundred dollars ; at Yale College, at 
about twenty-three hundred dollars ; at Union College, at about 
eighteen hundred to two thousand dollars ; at Hamilton College, 
at about twelve hundred dollars ; at Hobart College, at about one 
thousand to fourteen hundred dollars ; at the University of 
Michigan, at about seventeen hundred dollars. 

Your committee would be glad to see their way clearly to a 
recommendation that each professor be paid according to an agree- 
ment with the trustees, having in view the value of services ; but 
practically, they fear, this would be a matter of great difficulty. 

The main value of one professor consists in his earnestness ;■ of 
another, in his quickness ; of another, . in his eloquence ; of ano- 
ther, in his reputation. The value of one professor is determined 



27 

by many hours, every day, of hard labor ; the value of another, 
by a single hour, every day, of brilliant labor. To balance the 
claims of these is very difficult. To do it at all, without arousing 
jealousies which would be likely to interfere with the easy work- 
ing of the institution, your committee fear would be impossible. 
The committee, however, recommend for trial, that grades of 
salary be established for resident professors and assistant profess- 
ors, which grades, however, shall make no difference in the stand- 
ing of such professors or assistant professors. The grade shall be 
determined in each case at the election of the professor, and the 
grade may be raised at any time by a vote of the trustees, regard 
being had to the amount and value of services rendered, or to the 
experience of the persons rendering them. In this view, they 
present the following 

Schedule of Salakies. 

I. Resident Professors. 

1st grade ---- ..„„_.._ $2,250 

2d grade _ 2,000 

3d grade 1,750 

II. Resident Assistant Professors. 

1st grade. _. _ $1,750 

2d grade ...- 1,500 

3d grade __ . 1,200 

4th grade . . _ 1, 000 

The compensation of the non-resident professors, special pro- 
fessors and lecturers should be arranged by special agreement in 
each case. 

In addition to the officers already named for administrative pur- 
poses, will be required a Steward, who should occupy an office 
upon the grounds, keep close watch of the grounds and buildings, 
superintend repairs, present certificates, receive dues, keep books, 
etc., etc. His salary also should be matter of agreement. 

Modification in the Official Term of Trustees. 

In considering the arrangement of the governing body, the com- 
mittee cannot forbear to make a suggestion as to a modification of 
the present charter. By that, the Board of Trustees are a self- 
perpetuating body ; each trustee elected for life, and the whole 
body form a close corporation. None can deny that while such 



28 

an organization has advantages as regards stability, it has disad- 
vantages as regards progress and activity. Your committee be- 
lieve that the history of great educational institutions, when fully 
written, will show that this method of electing trustees is the 
great cause why institutions of learning have so often been 
dragged on behind the age, instead of being recognized as leaders 
of the age. We are not prepared to present in all its details a 
plan for the change desired ; but we recommend that as soon as it 
shall be deemed expedient, some legislation be had by which the 
term of office for trustees shall be six years ; that the elected 
trustees be classified by lot, and that a certain number of trustees 
be elected each year. The committee would suggest that each 
year, three new members be elected into the Board by the trus- 
tees, to take the places of three who annually leave it. They 
recommend that this continue until such time as the graduates of 
the University shall number one hundred ; that thereafter two 
persons be elected annually into the Board by the Trustees, and 
one be elected by the graduates. They also recommend that the 
elections of the Board of Trustees be conducted in every case by 
ballot, and that it require a two-thirds vote of the electing body 
to re-elect a former trustee. 

The advantages of this plan in general are evident. First, it 
secures an influx of new life into the Board. Secondly, it does 
this without any jar or disturbance of harmony. Thirdly, it 
recognizes the fact that the alumni of the institution never lose 
their vital connection with it. Fourthly, it prompts every alumnus 
to maintain a deep interest in the institution. 

The committee recommend that by the same legislation, the 
number of absences from meetings of the Board allowed by the 
Revised Statutes, be diminished. It is surely not too much to ask 
that men having the honor of a position in a Board of Trustees 
like this, should discharge the duties, or that if they cannot dis- 
charge them, they give place to those who can. On a full attend- 
ance upon the meetings of the Board, depends in a great measuie 
the success of this noble enterprise. 

The Equipment and Illustrative Collections. 

The next point to which the committee would call attention, is 
the Equipment. 

For the department of Agriculture there are two sorts of equip- 
ments. First, some farm buildings and tools are necessary at an 



29 

early day to meet the demands of simple practical instruction. 
Secondly, to give the department the character and efficiency it 
deserves, there must be begun and carried on as rapidly as pos- 
sible, a Museum of Agriculture, embracing collections of imple- 
ments, productions, and matters generally relating to the depart- 
ment, in character similar to the State Agricultural collection at 
Albany. 

In the department of the Mechanic Arts, your committee believe 
that the order of equipment needed is exactly the reverse ; that 
whereas in the Agricultural department an experimental farm is 
first needed and the illustrative collection is secondary, in the 
department of Mechanics the illustrative collection is first needed, 
and the model workshop is secondary. 

The reasons for this belief are as follows : 

For the experiments in agriculture one farm is sufficient ; the 
main outlines of procedure in practical culture and experiments 
are simple ; a small range of implements is sufficient for the whole 
work. 

To cover an equally extensive field in the mechanic arts would 
necessitate a very great number of shops, with scores of processes 
entirely dissimilar, with an immense range of machines and tools. 

In agriculture one field will answer for nearly all the different 
processes and experiments ; in mechanics, as a rule, one workshop 
will only answer for each single branch to which it is devoted. 

But, in addition to this great difference between the two depart- 
ments, in the ease of simple instruction in elementary practice, 
your committee conceive there is a radical difference between the 
necessities of the two departments. Scientific agriculture depends 
largely on experiments. Whatever may be the results of strictly 
scientific deductions, these results are not to be accepted until 
experiment has proved them useful. Thus, agricultural chemistry 
alone, as a science coming out of the laboratory, is inadequate. 
Its results must be submitted to practice on the farm. In actual 
practice a great number of elements constantly arise to disturb 
theoretical results. 

In the department of Mechanic Arts, on the other hand, the 
results of strict scientific investigation are seldom modified by 
practice. Every calculation given by mathematical theory will be 
found to work in practice. 

In machines, theoretical calculations of power, modified by cal- 
culations of friction will, as a general rule, express practical 



30 

results. There is, then, no such need of experimental workshops 
in this department as of experimental farms in the other. 

There are other reasons which might be adduced, but the com- 
mittee would pass them, and recommend at an early day that there 
be commenced in this department a general collection, embracing 
drawings, casts, sectional and working models, in general character 
like the "Conservatory of Arts and Trades" at Paris. 

They also recommend that the Board take into consideration the 
establishment of a workshop, where young men may be employed 
in making sundry implements and machines for the agricultural 
department, and models for the collections illustrating various 
other departments. 

In the department of Engineering, collections are necessary of 
drawings, engravings, models, casts, &c, in general scope like 
that at Union College ; and among these the committee recom- 
mend at an early day, in the department of Mathematics, the 
acquisition of a collection of the Olivier models, similar to those 
at the Paris Conservatory, and at Union, Harvard and Columbia 
Colleges, and at the Military Academy at West Point. 

In the division of Science, Literature, and the Arts in general, 
various collections are necessary. Of these, collections in Geology. 
Mineralogy, Zoology, Comparative Anatomy and Botany, are those 
most immediately needed. The University, by the munificence 
of its founder, possesses already one of the finest collections extant 
in Geology, only needing small additions in Lithology to make it 
sufficient. It is here submitted that much might be done in build- 
ing up the collections, by employing active students in the work 
of collecting specimens most accessible, and in conducting ex- 
changes. At the same time it will probably be advantageous to 
keep watch of the collections which are from time to time offered 
for sale in this country and in Europe, and thus secure, at com- 
parativelv small cost, such collections as the Ward collection at 
Rochester ; the Lederer collection at Ann Arbor, and the Gibbs 
collection at New Haven. 

Philosophical Apparatus. 

Another very important part of the equipment of any institution 
of a high class is its collection of Philosophical Apparatus. It 
is undoubtedly true that a skillful professor, with little apparatus, 
is better than a bungler with much ; yet as it is our ambition to 
have not only the best instructors, but also the best means of illus- 



31 

tration, it is our duty to look carefully to this portion of the 
equipment, and to decide upon a policy regarding it. 

The committee believe that the trustees should make every effort 
to have the best ; and that our policy should be two-fold : First, 
the professors in the department of General Chemistry, Physics, 
and kindred departments, should be furnished with the means of 
illustrating the latest results of research and initiating new re- 
searches. Secondly, they should have the means of publicly illus- 
trating these brilliantly. We therefore hope to see, at an early 
day, in the collections of the University, such comparatively rare 
pieces of apparatus as that of Bianchi or Thilorier for the solidi- 
fication of carbonic acid ; the English apparatus for the direct 
generation on a large scale of electricity from steam ; the Boston 
modification of Ruhmkorf 's coil for presenting on a large scale the 
effects of electricity induced by the Galvanic current ; the new 
French apparatus for experimenting upon light ; and in general 
those aids to instruction and illustration proper to an institution 
which we hope to place among the first of this country. 

The earlier the philosophical apparatus is put on this footing, 
the better; and while the committee do not urge an immediate 
outlay sufficient to compass all that these departments should con- 
tain, they earnestly recommend at an early day a liberal expendi- 
ture toward a worthy beginning. 

Collections Illustkative of Aet. 

The University can never attain to the proportions we hope for 
it, without some collections illustrative of the great Arts of Archi- 
tecture, Sculpture and Painting. 

While galleries of statues and paintings by artists just now in 
fashion, are too expensive to be thought of, art-collections of far 
greater educational value can be formed at an outlay compara- 
tively trifling. 

The collections of casts at the German University at Bonn, and 
in the institutions at Boston, Ann Arbor and Toronto ; the collec- 
tions of photographs and medallions illustrating architecture and 
sculpture, and the collection of engravings illustrating the History 
of Painting, now forming at the University of Michigan, furnish 
examples of the equipment which ought ere long to be given to 
this department. 



32 

The Orservatory. 

In the ordinary working of an ordinary college, an observatory 
can be dispensed with. But when an institution is to be made a 
centre for men of the highest intellect, — when it is sought to in- 
crease knowledge, — when the aim is to bring every appliance to 
bear in revealing the power of God and in developing the power 
of man, — those in charge will naturally think of the establishment 
of an observatory. So it has been almost without exception in 
the great universities of the old world. So it has been at Har- 
vard College, at Yale, at the University of Michigan, at the Uni- 
versity at Chicago, at the University of Alabama, at Hamilton Col- 
lege, and at Vassar College, in our own country. 

It may be said that an observatory gives no part of what is 
known as practical instruction. Even if it did not, the investi- 
gations which it aids are so noble, that the most severely practical 
men have always held them in honor. But every man at all ac- 
quainted with higher education, will declare that the observatory 
does promote practical education. From the observatories have 
come some of the most practical benefactors of the race, and among 
them, Newton, LaPlace, Lalande, Oersted, Arago, Mitchell. No 
observatory was ever planned in a collegiate town, without stimu- 
lating greatly the study of the exact sciences, and thus promoting 
progress and achievement in the departments where the exact 
sciences bear practically upon the welfare of mankind. 

We are sure that all the trustees join in our hope to see, at no 
distant day, standing upon our grounds, an observatory which 
shall be an honor to the State and Nation. No better gift could 
be made by any of our wealthy citizens, and no nobler monument 
could be reared by those who long to live in the memories of their 
fellow men. 

The cost of a suitable observatory varies. To erect a building 
and place in it a telescope, meridian circle, astronomical clock, and 
chronograph, would cost from forty thousand to eighty thousand 
dollars, according to the size and perfection of the instruments. 

The committee urge that this part of the equipment be not lost 
sight of, though at present they do not recommend any applica- 
tion of funds for it. 



33 

The Library. 

The part of the equipment to which the committee would call 
attention, finally, is the library. It is the culmination of all — 
touching all departments — meeting the needs of teachers and 
taught. In it all Sciences and Arts meet ; from it they draw a 
vast part of their sustenance. We believe that, from the first, the 
building up of a library suited to the wants of the institution, and 
worthy of its aims, should be steadily kept in view. A large 
library is absolutely necessary to the efficiency of the various de- 
partments. Without it, our men of the highest ability will be 
frequently plodding in old circles and stumbling into old errors. 
Say what we may of the necessity of original investigation, the 
fact remains that science has never made great achievements save 
when its votaries have had a plentiful supply of books wherein 
to find necessary information and hints as to studies and investiga- 
tions. The history of the progress of modern science is the history 
of development and accretion — development out of previous 
thought and work — accretion upon previous thought and work. 
The great progress in modern science is, to a very small degree, 
the result of the original investigations of men removed from 
access to the recorded labors of their predecessors. 

This is the case with every science. To attempt either of the 
great functions of an university — the discovery of truth, or the 
diffusion of truth, regarding the two main branches of our in- 
struction, Agriculture and Mechanics — without a liberal library, 
would be to cripple these departments ; and to continue instruc- 
tion long in the departments generally without an ample library, 
would be a farce, were it not so sad to see a body of professors, 
ambitious to render services to science and to the institutions with 
which they are connected, crippled by want of books. 

What should be the character of the books ? It has been sug- 
gested that a library should be of the newest and best ; that it 
need only present the latest works as embodying the highest 
results of thought. There is a germ of truth in this, which ought 
to be borne in mind ; yet it should not be forgotten that there is 
not a science or an art in which there are not some old investiga- 
tions never superseded or surpassed. 

There are multitudes of old works which must be within reach, 
in order to an understanding of almost any science or art. The 
general rule is, that a worthy library should possess the works of 
every man who has made his mark in literature, science or the 

5 



34 

arts. This is true of different sciences and arts in different de- 
grees, but it is sufficiently true even of the most recent sciences 
and arts, to show that no talk about old books and mustv tomes 
should for a moment delude us. 

How should these books be obtained ? 

Three methods suggest themselves : First, the different mem- 
bers of the Faculty might present lists of works in their several 
departments, with indication of those most needed, and after a 
collation of these lists by a committee, and a classification accord- 
ing to comparative necessity, purchases might be made from year 
to year. This is an approved practical method, and is recom- 
mended. 

But this does not cover the whole want of the institution. There 
must be a reserved force of books. Very often a book necessary 
to the success of an important investigation is not thought of until 
the moment it is wanted. Very often a professor of great acquire- 
ments does not know where to find the record of an experiment ; 
and that hint at a method or fact of immense value to him, he 
must seek in a full collection of works in his department, many 
of which he would not think of naming as those most immediately 
necessary. 

The successful use of recent books, too, necessitates a large col- 
lection of those partially superseded. Partial quotations must 
often be known wholly; doubtful quotations must often be verified. 
A collection is needed as a centre to which men in all grades in 
every kind of investigation may gather. 

This can only be obtained by other methods. One of these is, 
to take the catalogues of leading publishers and booksellers, and 
having marked their valuable works, receive proposals for their 
purchase. This is often a useful way, and is also recommended. 

Another method of use in beginning a library, is the purchase 
wholly, or in part, of carefully gathered special collections of 
private individuals. Thus the University of Eochester purchased 
the Neancler Library, and Yale College the Thilo Library. 

When and how can this be done ? Not in this country to any 
extent, for nowhere in the world are valuable books sought so 
eagerly and held so tenaciously. It is in foreign cities, and espe- 
cially in London, that collections of works in every department, 
made by the most distinguished scholars, are brought under the 
hammer of the auctioneer. Hardly a number of the London 
Athenaeum is issued without advertisements of such collections. 



35 

Within a very few years, the private library of Buckle, so full in 
all its departments ; the private library of Lord Macaulay, con- 
taining vast stores in English history ; the library of Humboldt, 
containing the accumulations of his life ; and scores of others even 
more important, have been thus broken up in the London market. 

Your committee find that the prices of books thus disposed of 
in mass are very low, except in the case of rarities competed for by 
bibliomaniacs, and these are the very things for which the Univer- 
sity cares little or nothing. The solid material of a large library 
— the standard authorities and works of reference — the sets of 
Reviews, periodicals and Journals of Societies, with few excep- 
tions, go at low prices. The committee are assured by one of its 
members, who has himself frequented, and bought largely in these 
sales, that collections of vast value, selected during a lifetime by 
the most eminent scholars in various branches, and enriched often 
with their notes, references and corrections, are constantly sold at 
prices astonishingly low. 

The committee, therefore, without recommending any hasty 
action, would suggest that an eye be kept upon these frequent 
sales, and that at the earliest convenient season an attempt be 
made to avail ourselves of them. 

It is also recommended that steps be taken to obtain for the 
library certain valuable works published by foreign governments; 
such as the wonderful Monographs upon the European Rural Popu- 
lation, by LePlay, published by the French government; and, 
above all, in the department of Industrial Mechanics, the great 
series of Patent Reports published by the English government, 
copies of which are in the State Library at Albany, in the Astor 
Library at New York, and in the Public Library at Boston. It 
is believed that a copy can be obtained of the English government 
at the mere cost of mounting the plates and binding the several 
volumes. A more valuable and appropriate work for that depart- 
ment could hardly be designated. 

Preparation of a Code for the University. 

To this committee was entrusted the preparation of a code of 
laws for the government of the University. A large collection 
of the statutes of different colleges has been made, but at the out- 
set a question meets us : What shall be the theory of discipline in 
the institution ? Shall it be after the military pattern ; shall it be 
the ordinary collegiate discipline which has been in part inherited 



36 

from England ; shall it be an adaptation of the free university 
system of continental Europe, where comparatively little is done 
by college police, and much is left to the students themselves ? It 
will be seen at once that this question must be decided before any 
body of statutes is framed ; for the radical difference between 
these fundamental systems involves an entire difference between 
the codes which express them. The first, the military system, has 
undoubted advantages. It puts all students upon an equality in 
mere outward advantages of dress, style and living ; it subjects 
students to a more perfect control ; it gives from among the stu- 
dents, officers to aid in enforcing rigid discipline. On the other 
hand, the uniformity in dress, which is admired by some as con- 
tributing to equality, deprives the professor of one of his best 
means of knowing who are before him in the lecture room, — how 
he shall deal with individuals, and what allowances are to be made. 
None acquainted with the best American colleges, will hesitate to 
declare that, as a rule, no student loses anything among his pro- 
fessors or his fellow students, by clothing indicating poverty 
and frugality. It is only in after life that this makes an impor- 
tant difference. In no community on earth is man estimated so 
exactly by what is supposed to be his real worth, as in a commu- 
nity of college students. No collections of men were ever more 
democratic. The rigid military government, it is believed, could 
not possibly be applied to the whole University ; for, by the fun- 
damental theory of the institution, there will be students of a great 
number of different grades, — some attending merely courses of 
lectures for a single season ; some in regular courses of several 
years ; some men not far from middle age ; some far below their 
majority ; some residing in the college building ; some residing 
in the town. While, therefore, military instruction must always 
form part of the courses, it is not recommended that the govern- 
ment be military, except, perhaps, in some single departments, 
where efficiency may be promoted by military forms. 

As to the next system, the ordinary collegiate plan, although 
to a certain extent it may have to be adopted on account of our 
partial resort to dormitories, yet the system as a finality is not 
favored by the committee. 

The system of university freedom of government is believed by 
the committee to be our best government. In this system laws 
are few but speedily executed, and the University is regarded 
neither as an asylum nor a reform school. Much is trusted to the 



37 

manliness of the students. The attempt is to teach the students 
to govern themselves, and to cultivate acquaintance and confidence 
between Faculty and students. This the committee believe is pos- 
sible. They believe that by rigid execution of a few disciplinary 
laws ; by promotion of pleasant, extra-official intercourse between 
teachers and taught, in ways hereafter to be specified ; by placing 
professors over students, not as police, but as a body of friends, 
this government may be made to work better than any other. The 
boundaries between government of students by university autho- 
rities and government by town authorities, will be discussed else- 
where. 

The committee will, on a future day, recommend a simple pledge 
and ceremony of matriculation, having in view self-government by 
the students. 

Having thus given a basis for a code, we think it best to defer 
details until a future report. The necessity for by-laws is not im- 
mediate, and much light can, it is believed, be gained from the 
Faculty about to be chosen. 

Kemunerative Manual Labor by Students. 

One of the most interesting questions which arises in the estab- 
lishment of our departments of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts, 
regards the experiment of employing students at manual labor 
during a portion of the day. 

The argument generally used of late against this experiment is, 
that it has been tried several times unsuccessfully. 

This argument would have more force were it shown that the 
institutions where the manual labor system has failed, have had 
the means of trying the experiments fully and fairly. It is be- 
lieved that such has not been the case, and that our country has 
seen no institution having such ample means of trying this experi- 
ment as has the Cornell University. Nor is it true, as is often 
loosely stated, that this experiment has uniformly failed. The 
reports of the State Agricultural College of Michigan, at Lansing, 
show that its success there, if not brilliant, is substantial. Several 
young men have supported themselves entirely, paying their fee 
of tuition, room rent, board, fuel, washing, clothing, books and 
traveling expenses out of their earnings upon the college pro- 
perty ; and a very large number in the same way have paid their 
expenses partially. 

Your committee are satisfied that the University ought to try 



38 

this experiment. We are not, however, prepared to recommend 
that every student in the University be required to do a certain 
amount of manual labor. This we think would impose fetters 
upon the student body, very dangerous to that character of 
breadth and freedom which we hope to establish. 

If, as is certain to be frequently the case, a student advanced 
in years considerably beyond the usual student age, and who 
already has labored and accumulated means to defray his expenses, 
presents himself and wishes, in the shortest time possible, to fit 
himself for a place as engineer, superintendent of chemical works, 
or scientific miner, it would seem doubtful policy to force him 
to give those hours which he desires to crowd with study, to 
manual labor in which he has had full experience, and remunera- 
tion which he does not need. 

True, it is often urged that the student can do more and better 
mental work, with deduction of two or three hours of physical 
labor, than without it. Though not one man in a million among 
men at large acts upon this belief, it may be so among students. 
But, until this theory proves itself by practice, we believe that it 
would be a great mistake to attempt to place the entire University 
rigidly upon this basis. When, in our progress here, this theory 
shall be substantiated, there will be ample opportunity to enforce 
this system in all the departments. 

Again : Your committee are by no means certain that physical 
labor among young men' can be made to take wholly the place of 
athletic sports and gymnastic exercises in giving restoration from 
mental labor. Even if it keep up bodily strength, it seems hardly 
possible that the minds of young men could be kept fresh, elastic 
and energetic, when the only relief from tension is the change 
from one form of labor to another. 

We understand that even in manual labor schools it has been 
found necessary to give some time to free, manly sports and games. 

But there is one practical objection which will doubtless be 
conclusive, even if theoretical objections are not. 

If any such number of students as we expect, enter the Univer- 
sity, we could not provide labor for all of them. 

The State University of Michigan, with far less attractions than 
we hope to present, has fifteen hundred (1500) students. At two 
hours a day of manual labor by each student, — and this is an hour 
less than the usual allowance, — granting that the different divi- 
sions of working students succeed each other with perfect prcci- 



39 

sion, one corps taking up the tools the instant the previous corps 
throws them down, there would be a constant force to be profitably 
employed and paid, equivalent to three hundred (300) laborers, 
and the University cannot employ any such force with profit for 
any long time. 

But while we do not recommend general compulsory labor, we 
are in favor of organizing corps of laboring students, and holding 
out every inducement to join them ; and we are not prepared to 
say that it may not be necessary to require manual labor from all 
the students in some special departments. 

We believe that a system of manual labor, rightly organized, 
will work to the mutual advantage of the University and the stu- 
dents. There is a large amount of labor required at once upon 
the ornamental grounds and the farm. There are trees to be 
felled, roads and paths to be cut, depressions to be filled, eleva- 
tions to be graded down. There will be much work requiring 
mere physical ability, and there will be much requiring the scien- 
tific guidance of the Professors of Agriculture, of Landscape- 
Gardening and Engineering. 

It will also be of use to the students in their muscular develop- 
ment, and we believe can be made to give substantial aid to many 
pecuniarily. 

Physical Cultuke. 

Many plans of education have given goodly place to Physical 
Culture in theory ; very few have given any adequate place to it 
in practice. 

No mistake cculd be more unfortunate. Better the mere rudi- 
ments of knowledge with a body sound, firm and strong, than the 
best culture of the schools with a body permanently emaciated and 
debilitated. 

It is one of the strange things in the history of education, that 
American votaries of classical scholarship have been so neglectful 
of that bodily culture which, in the ancient civilization they justly 
honor, was the main culture. 

We cannot insist upon this part of an education too strongly. 
As long as highly educated men are dyspeptics, so long will they 
be deprived of their supremacy in society by uneducated eupep- 
tics — and so it ought to be. 

We recommend : First, that in all, except the Optional Course, 
attendance be required on a plain series of lectures upon Anatomy, 
Physiology and Hygiene. 



40 

Secondly, that there be provided, at the opening of the Univer- 
sity, a well-equipped Gymnasium, and that training in it, or equi- 
valent training in manual labor or exercises in the open air, be 
obligatory upon all. 

Thirdly, that an instructor in Gymnastics be appointed, who 
shall conduct exercises at the gymnasium under some careful pro- 
gressive system, with as much regularity and under as stringent 
rules regarding attendance and decorum, as are observed in any 
college exercise whatever. 

Fourthly, that in arranging hours for study, recitations or lec- 
tures, physical training be regarded as equally entitled to conside- 
ration with mental training, and that a regular and sufficient time 
be always allowed for that purpose. 

Fifthly, that grounds be set apart for the national game of base 
ball, and that the formation of clubs be encouraged ; also that 
encouragement be given to the formation of clubs for boating upon 
Lake Cayuga. 

Sixthly, that the experiment be tried of framing an university 
statute to the effect that deterioration in physical culture will be 
held in the same category with want of progress in mental cul- 
ture, and that either will subject the delinquent to deprivation of 
university privileges. 

Seventhly, in view of the importance and practical novelty of 
this whole subject, it is recommended that to the regular standing 
committees of the Board of Trustees there be added a " Committee 
upon Physical Culture." 

Military Education. 

It is recommended that the requirements of the congressional 
law be met by careful provisions for teaching Military Engineer- 
ing and Tactics, and that the Board of Trustees at an early day 
adopt some plan for encouraging military drill, or for making it 
obligatory. 

Actual Commencement of Instruction. 

The committee would also report as to the actual commence- 
ment of instruction, — the practical beginning of general university 
operations. 

A sufficient number of professors having been secured, it is 
recommended that at least three (3) months before the opening 
of the University, an advertisement be inserted in papers of wide 



41 

circulation, stating concisely the day when the examinations for 
admissions begin, the courses of instruction, the professors and 
their departments, the charges for instruction, the approximate 
charges for board and lodging, the number and character of free 
scholarships, the duties of school commissioners in examining can- 
didates for them under the charter, and the names of persons to 
whom applications may be made for further details. 

The University Year. 

It is recommended that there be two terms in the University 
year ; the first commencing on the second Thursday of September 
and ending on the third week-day preceding Christmas ; the 
second term commencing on the third week-day following New 
Year's day, and ending upon the third Thursday in June, when 
shall be held the annual Commencement. 

In order, however, to commemorate an event which the insti- 
tution ought ever to hold in remembrance, and, incidentally, to 
give some intermission in the second term, which is much longer 
than the first, it is recommended that the ordinary exercises be 
suspended on the fourteenth clay of May, the day when the act 
incorporating the University was passed, and that that day be 
forever known as Founder's Day, and that exercises be then held 
expressive of gratitude to the benefactors of the University, and 
to renew the memory of their benefactions. 

It is recommended that some inaugural exercises be held at or 
near the beginning of the first term. 

Fees. 
In nothing do American institutions of learning vary more than 
in the fees required of students. At Yale College the charges 
are as follows : 

For tuition _ $45 

rent and care of one-half room, average 20 

expenses of public rooms, repairs, &c. __ _ 10 

use of gymnasium _ _ 4 

society tax .... ____=__ 6 



Besides these, there are charges at graduation amounting to 
$12 ; average price of board, $5.50. 

In the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, at Boston, the 

6 



42 

fees in the first year are $100 ; second year, $125 ; third and 
fourth, $150 each. 

At Harvard College the fees are as follows : 

Instruction, library and lecture rooms, and gymnasium $104 

Rent and care of room, &c. 28 

Special repairs .. _ 1 

$133 

Board is said to range from $4.50 to $7 per week. 

In the Lawrence Scientific School, at Cambridge, the student 
taking the courses of chemistry, engineering, botany, &c, pays in 
regular fees each year, from $250 to $300. 

In the Cambridge School of Mines, the fees are, for the first 
year, $150, and $200 for each succeeding year. 

At the State University of Michigan, by the catalogue of 1866, 
any student from without the State pays a matriculation fee of 
$20, and an annual fee of $5. 

At Dartmouth College, tuition in the Scientific School is, per 
annum, $36 in the third and fourth, and $42 per annum in the 
first and second years. In the College proper, the fees are : 

For tuition $51 

room rent from $6 to 12 

$57 to $63 

At Hamilton College the tuition is $45 

Room rent 9 

Sweeping and contingencies 21 

$75 
At the State Agricultural College of Michigan, at Lansing, 
tuition to students from that State is free, but from all other 
States, per annum, $20 ; room rent, $4 ; matriculation fee, $5. 

From this great diversity no rule can be deduced. After con- 
sideration, the committee, although there are one hundred and 
twenty-eight (128) free scholarships already provided by law, and 
although it is believed that instruction of the very best kind will 
be furnished, have concluded to suggest that the charges for the 
first year be very low, and they present the following schedule : 

Matriculation fee $15 

Annual fees at $10 per term ._ __ 20 

$35 



43 

For room rent they have based their calculations upon the per- 
centage which the dormitories ought to contribute upon the outlay 
for them, arranging the rents so as to give a return of seven (7) 
per cent per annum. The rent of a full suite of rooms in the main 
building would be 55 cents, 73 cents, 109 cents per week for each 
student, according as they have four, three or two occupants. 

Arranging rents so as to bring a return of four per cent per 
annum, the charges would be 32 cents, 42 cents, 63 cents per 
week, according as the suites of rooms are occupied by four, three 
or two persons. 

But it is not expected that any large number of the students 
can be accommodated in the University dormitories. There are 
provided in the first building, accommodations for from sixty-four 
to one hundred and twenty-eight students. But it is believed 
that these will fall short of the accommodations required. 

It is not doubted that the citizens of Ithaca will do their utmost, 
even subjecting themselves to inconvenience, in providing rooms 
for students. And it is believed that they will do this at the 
lowest terms possible ; for nothing could be more unfortunate for 
the town and University than at the outset to have the impression 
gain ground that student lodgings in Ithaca are costly. 

Board. * 

In regard to board, the committee are decidedly of the opinion 
that the trustees should have nothing to do with furnishing it, 
unless events force them to do so. For this the citizens of Ithaca 
must be relied upon entirely. The same necessity for liberal 
treatment and low prices obtains in regard to board as in regard 
to lodgings. And in view of the great importance of a right 
beginning in this matter, it is recommended that the President of 
the Board designate a committee of the citizens of Ithaca, who 
shall bring the matter before their fellow citizens and obtain assur- 
ances which shall enable the trustees in their first announcement 
to offer, with the other attractions of the institution, the very 
decided one of cheap rates of lodgings and board. 

The same citizen's committee should also be relied upon to fur- 
nish the University steward with names of persons willing to 
accommodate students, and with lists of prices, so as to provide 
at once for students on their arrival. 

If, however, such appeal be unsuccessful, which is not believed 
possible, it is recommended that the executive committee be em- 



44 

powered to lease in the town, or erect upon the college grounds, 
a dining hall and kitchen, with the full understanding, however, 
that the University shall not undertake to manage it further than 
to lease it to the students. The students thus leasing it, shall 
choose their own stewards, employ their own servants, purchase 
their own provisions, and manage it in their own way, except that 
the trustees may vote to advance money to the clubs thus formed, 
to purchase leading articles of supply at wholesale, according to 
the system recently established in the Yale College dining clubs; 
and the University authorities shall take measures, in case of need, 
to preserve general decency and order. 

Fuel. 

It is strongly recommended that the University purchase fuel 
at wholesale, to be retailed to the students at cost. This plan is 
found to work beneficially at Yale, Harvard and many other 
colleges. 

The Dormitory System. 

Two radically different ideas as to the function of an Univer- 
sity have produced two different systems of lodging students and 
of supervision of them while not engaged in public exercises. 

Under the first, the student is lodged in a dormitory and kept, 
or rather supposed to be kept, under surveillance of the Univer- 
sity authorities. Under the second, lodging and any other than 
general surveillance are looked upon as outside the proper 
function of an University, and the student left to make arrange- 
ment for his lodging as any other person coming for a time into 
the town would do, subject to certain general regulations by the 
University. Care of him as a citizen is left to the town authori- 
ties ; care of him as a member of a family, to the household with 
which he is lodged — the University, of course, reserving the right 
to inflict penalties for offences against University common law and 
statutes. 

The committee believe the latter system the more sound in 
theory and the more satisfactory in practice. Large bodies of 
students collected in dormitories often arrive at a degree of tur- 
bulence which small parties, gathered in the houses of citizens, 
seldom if ever reach. No private citizen, who lets rooms in his 
own house to four or six students, would tolerate for an hour the 
anarchy which most tutors in charge of college dormitories are 
compelled to overlook. 



45 

But even were the discipline of dormitories thoroughly en- 
forced, the system tends to put the professorial corps in the atti- 
tude of policemen. And the situation is made all the worse by 
the fact that the professor is armed with no authority under the 
law of the land, and so comes to be regarded not even as a police- 
man, but as a spy — not as a judge, but as an inquisitor. Nothing 
could be more fatal to hearty, kindly relations between teachers 
and taught. 

The dormitory system, as it has existed at Oxford and Cam- 
bridge, has been carried out logically in the construction of quad- 
rangles — great enclosures from which egress at unsuitable hours 
is supposed to be rendered difficult, and in which good order can 
be more easily maintained. That even this most costly plan has 
failed every one knows, who has at all looked into the subject ; 
but even the poor merit of the English system seems wanting 
among us. 

The reasons for adopting even temporarily any modification of 
the dormitory system in a new institution like ours, are two : 
First, the necessity of some check upon persons disposed to ask 
too large a price for student lodgings. Secondly, the necessity 
of observations, experiments and work upon the college land by 
large numbers of students. Of these reasons the first weighs 
little ; the second, it is hoped, will weigh less and less as the 
village of Ithaca is extended nearer and nearer to the University 
domain ; — but they have been strong enough to induce the Board 
of Trustees to erect a dormitory in which are provided tasteful 
and well- ventilated study and sleeping rooms for from sixty -four 
to ninety-six students. It is believed that no better accommoda- 
tions are afforded in any college within the United States. 

It is recommended, however, that at the outset the policy of 
the trustees be declared to be in favor of making residence in the 
college buildings a reward of good work and conduct, and that 
good order in every student hall be entrusted to the self-govern- 
ing powers of the students residing in it, with a full understanding 
that the University authorities will enter into no inquisitorial pro- 
cess to discover the authors of disorder, but that if the tenants are 
not able to maintain good order, they must give place en masse 
to those who can. If this does not accomplish the purpose, the 
hall should be closed altogether. 

It is hoped that ere many years accommodations for students 
may be mainly provided among citizens residing in neat, tidy 



46 

dwellings bordering upon the University property. In these a 
kindly, restraining family influence would be exercised upon stu- 
dents, never found in the prevalent poor imitation of the English 
semi-monastic system. 

The committee are decidedly opposed to any large adoption of 
a dormitory system. 

Relations between the Cornell University and other Insti- 
tutions of Learning in the State. 

It is believed that the institution now to be founded can be 
brought into perfect harmony with the sister institutions of the 
State. While we hope for large numbers of students, it is highly 
improbable that the number at the other colleges will be any 
smaller than at present. Facilities for education, like facilities 
for travel, increase the number of those using them. In this great 
commonwealth of four milliou souls, there is work for all. 

So far from injuring the existing colleges, it is hoped that we 
can benefit them in one way at least most gratifying to their offi- 
cers. In the Faculties of these colleges are some of (he best 
minds in the country — some of the noblest men. They are to-day, 
almost without exception, kept upon salaries wretchedly inade- 
quate, and to a number of students far less than ought to enjoy 
the benefit of their teachings. 

By our plan of Non-resident Professors, we can avail ourselves 
of the talents of these men — can give them a larger field and a 
newer, and can add to their salaries sums which will enable them 
to work more freely in the colleges with which they are immedi- 
ately connected. This plan also offers an incentive to every active 
professor in every college, to distinguish himself as an investigator 
or instructor in some department, and thus will benefit science and 
education at large. 

Relations of the University with the School System of the 

State. 

The provisions of the charter of the Cornell University show 
that its promoters recognized the necessity of a vital connection 
with the school system of the State. As that system is the sub- 
stratum of all we hope to build, it cannot be left out of sight. It 
ought never to be forgotten that we are to draw life from it, and 
that we must return life into it. No scholastic traditions should 
lead us to slight or undervalue this relation. It will be a great 



47 

honor to us if we knit our work as an esteemed part, into the fabric 
of education for a commonwealth of four millions of people. 

Pains have been taken to establish a relation such as has never 
existed between the system and any existing college. The Super- 
intendent of Public Instruction is ex officio a trustee, and thus 
forms a vital link in the connection. The provision in the act of 
incorporation regarding the choice of students to scholarships in 
the different assembly districts, brings us directly into relations 
with the whole body of school commissioners throughout the 
State. Our labor should be to strengthen the ties thus established. 
Entering heartily into this vast educational work, so cherished by 
the people of this State, we are strong — holding ourselves aloof 
from it, we are weak indeed. 

A Special Test in our Work. 

In the arrangement of departments and in provision for them, 
there is one test very simple and very effectual — the original Law 
of Congress. That law we must neither wrest nor warp. We 
must satisfy its requirements without mental reservation. We 
must never lose sight of that great body of men to whose mental 
needs the act makes special reference, and of whom it speaks as 
the "industrial classes." 

The munificence of our founder does, indeed, enable us to add 
to this provision ; but nothing can allow us to take from it. 

The monstrous perversion of trusts recently revealed by the 
Parliamentary Commission on Collegiate Education in England, 
must find no parallel here. 

That original law will not fetter us in our endeavors to give the 
people of this State the most advanced university privileges. 
Having guarded us from a common error, and secured certain 
great branches of practical education, it gives us by express decla- 
rations the largest university scope — only insisting that we keep 
in view the real wants of this land and people. 

The General Test in University Education. 
The committee have now considered the practical questions 
most likely to arise at the beginning of our work. That all such 
questions have been met, is not claimed. In regard, however, 
to those which may hereafter arise, we desire in conclusion to 
present a general principle, fundamental and formative — a prin- 
ciple to serve as a test and guide ; — it is the principle so admirably 



48 

enunciated by Wilhelm von Humboldt, and elaborated by John 
Stuart Mill : " The great and leading principle is the absolute and 
essential importance of human development in its richest diversity." 
This we conceive to express the object of any really great institu- 
tion of learning ; this our founder proclaimed in his declaration 
already cited. 

This principle we believe can only be made operative through 
the greatest freedom in study consistent with an University organ- 
ization — freedom in choice of studies — freedom in range of studies. 
Development under this principle — moral, intellectual and phy- 
sical — can only be normal and healthful in an atmosphere of love 
of truth, beauty and goodness, and adoration of the Centre of 
truth, beauty and goodness. 

We have under our charter no right to favor any sect or to pro- 
mote any creed. No one can be accepted or rejected as trustee, 
professor or student, because of any opinions and theories which 
he may or may not hold. On that point our charter is most care- 
fully guarded, and made to conform to the fundamental ideas of 
our Republic — ideas which too many institutions of learning have 
forgotten. Fervor, valor and strength in labors for truth, good- 
ness and beauty, are the qualities to be sought in those who are 
to work here ; and if we secure men of this fervor, valor and 
strength, we may be sure that, whatever their individual theories 
on this or that dogma, their joint labors will be for the glory of 
God and the elevation of man. 

Upon the members of the Board the committee desire to im- 
press the necessity of earnest thought and energetic action. A 
trusteeship of this University will be no sinecure. Never was a 
nobler trust confided to any body of men. May we all feel our 
oreat responsibilities in this matter, and work earnestly to dis- 
charge them ; and in laying these foundations may we have the 
blessing of Heaven, that all may be fitly builded. 

(Signed.) ANDREW D. WHITE, 

For the Committee on Organization. 



H E P OUT 



OF THE 



COMMITTEE ON ORGANIZATION, 



PRESENTED TO THE 



TRUSTEES 



OP THE 



CORNELL UNIVERSITY. 



October 31st, 186G. 



ALBANY : 

C. VAN BENTHUYSEN & SONS, PRINTERS. 

1867. 



yj-u 



^ny t 



